Cover Story
How to Make it as a Tucson Musician
For decades, a significant number of Tucson musicians spanning all genres have achieved acclaim and (mostly moderate) commercial success beyond the Southwest. Howe Gelb, Isaiah Toothtaker, the Sand Rubies, the late Rainer Ptacek, Brian Lopez, and Machines of Loving Grace have all been celebrated nationally and, in some cases, internationally. But Cash Lansky and Marley…
Wig-o-Rama Lives!
Eleonor Leon Thanks to La Fashionista’s Eleonor Leon, Tucson’s favorite source of wigs and hairpieces for every reason and occasion is back in business. Wig-O-Rama grandly opens its “expert styling, human hair and synthetics … at prices to meet every budget” at La Fashionista, 45 S. Sixth Ave., for the 2nd Saturdays Downtown festivities, from…
Check Out The New Arizona Football Uniforms for 2014
The Arizona Our Kind of Guy Day night, stylishly presented as #AZOKGDay, is going on tonight at 5:30 p.m. at the Sands Club at the Lowell-Stevens Football Facility. Arizona Athletics tweeted a picture of the latest Wildcat football uniforms for the 2014 season. The solid jersey numbers gives the gatos a fresh look: As announced…
AZ Lawmakers Propose More Special License Plates
Photo by Anna Consie and Brittny Goodsell By KIMBERLEIGH HOLSCLAW Cronkite News Service PHOENIX — Bumper stickers used to be the go-to means of showing support for causes. These days, that happens more and more on special license plates issued by the state of Arizona. With several dozen special plates already available, state lawmakers are…
Talking Comics Reviews ‘Dead Body Road’ #1
Photo courtesy of Cynthia Gerriets. This week Cynthia and Jenny review the awesome action packed comic: Dead Body Road #1! Car crashes, interrogations, and revenge. It’s like an 80’s action movie. There are a ton of new funny books waiting for you at your nearest comic book shop, but which one should you buy? In…
Meet Fabio at Whole Foods on Thursday
Fabio Lanzoni, Italian romance novel cover model, is gracing Tucson with his presence to promote his protein powders at both Whole Food locations on Thursday, Feb. 6. The renaissance man will be available for pictures and signatures from noon to 3 p.m. at 5555 E River Road. But if you’re looking for a more romantic…
Megadeth and Kottonmouth Kings Are Coming to the Pima County Fair
The Pima County Fair is 71 days away, and some of your favorite acts are planned to be there. The Kottonmouth Kings are the latest guests to be announced on the Fair’s Facebook page. What better day to see the “psychedelic hip-hop punk rock” band on April 20th? Country fans will go Redneck Crazy for…
Wise Words In The Midst Of The Charter School Debates
I’m often accused of being against charter schools. It’s more accurate to say I’m against false, inflated praise of charter schools by the conservative “education reform” movement in its relentless drive to demonize what “reformers” like to refer to as “government schools” and to promote school privatization. I try to burst their inflated bubble whenever…
Report: State Needs “Laser Focus” on Kids
After its appointment on Dec. 2, Gov. Jan Brewer’s CARE Team released its first report detailing its progress over the last two months. Here are a few main takeaways: — 6,554 cases had been designated as “not assigned.” — 100 percent of those cases are now assigned to a caseworker; 60 percent of them are…
One Night Only! Bill Nye v.s. Ken Ham!
Bill Nye and Ken Ham are going to (hopefully) have an intelligent and engaging “evolution vs. creationism” debate at the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Ky., tonight at 7 p.m. ET. The beef started when Nye’s “Creationism Is Not Appropriate For Children” video went viral. Basicly, Nye said, in so many words, that evolution naysayers need…
Who Wants to Go to Gem & Jam?
The very-big-deal groove-based art/music/dance extravaganza Gem & Jam kicks off on Friday providing three nights (and by nights, we mean well into the morning with their after-hours events) of fun for most of the senses. We have four pair of single night tickets to give away to lucky Tucson Weekly readers. Just head over to…
Win Free Tickets to Color Dash on Feb. 8
There’s a bright, fun run in your future. The Color Dash 5K is coming to Tucson this Saturday, Feb. 8, at Reid Park, 1100 South Randolph Way. The packet/registration starts at 8:30 a.m. The marathon starts at 10:30 p.m. The race registration fee and all of sponsorships goes to benefit Ben’s Bells Kindness Programs. This…
Video of Neko Case and Calexico on Conan
Check out the Tucson talent on Conan O’Brien’s TBS talk show last night. Neko Case and Calexico performed Ragtime off her latest album The Worse Things Get, The Harder I fight, The Harder I fight, The More I Love You. Maybe they will perform an encore at the Rialto Theatre on April 12?
Coalition To Stop Gun Violence Spotlights Victoria Steele’s Bill
The Facebook page for the national Coalition To Stop Gun Violence featured Victoria Steele’s bill to make parents responsible if they leave a gun lying around and their children use it to harm someone. What a concept, huh? You’d think a civilized society would have had this on the books decades ago. So far, 639…
Grand Theft Art Show at Thunder Canyon Brewery This Weekend
There’s a lot of similarities between Tucson and Liberty City. Where else can you learn how to hotwire a car and pay with BitCoins? Photo courtesy of the Facebook event page. Spirit Art House and BICAS are hosting the Grand Theft Art Show on Feb. 7 and 8 at Thunder Canyon Brewery, 220 East Broadway.…
When Being a Superfan Goes Horribly Wrong
Chris Kingman is a diehard Denver Broncos fans, one of those guys that says “we” when speaking of his favorite professional football team. Needless to say, he was crushed when the Broncos got bent over and taken to town by the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday night during Super Bowl XLVIII, losing 43-8. But the pain…
Ted’s Country Store to Close
Bad news from the corner of Tucson Boulevard and Glenn Street, as quirky fancy foods shop/deli sandwich joint Ted’s Country Store announced this morning that they’re closing permanently this weekend. In recent years, it seems the store has focused more on the sandwich and soup part of their business than the selling of European cookies…
Don’t Miss Neko Case on Conan Tonight
You’ll see some familiar faces when Neko Case performs on Conan tonight: Calexico’s Joey Burns will be playing cello while Jacob Valenzuela and Michael Carbajal are busting out their trumpets. Much of Neko’s latest release, The Worse Things Get, the Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You, was recorded right…
Switch Comedy Show Featuring the Tullar Bros. at Plush Tonight
Jacob Breckenridge and professional comedian Pauly Casillas are hosting their monthly improv comedy show The Switch at 9 p.m. tonight at Plush, 340 E. Sixth St. Johnny, Jim and Joe Tullar are in town and you don’t want to miss this. You might know them from the various films they screened at The Loft Cinema’s…
Here’s A Money Idea For Charter Schools
It’s been said before in greater depth, complete with facts and figures, but the Weekly’s Tom Danehy cuts right to the chase, as usual, in this week’s column. Records show that charter schools spend public money like drunken sailors with almost no official oversight, with protection from having to make full financial disclosure almost gleefully…
Battling for Vocational Ed Bucks
A bill set to be heard by the House Education Committee today aims to return funding to Arizona’s Joint Technical Education Districts, which lost $30 million statewide in 2011, preventing freshmen from attending JTED classes. District 9 Rep. Ethan Orr tells The Range he’s sponsoring House Bill 2176 because JTEDs have had helped students develop…
Are Transgender People Unwelcome at JunXion Bar? [UPDATED]
Nicole Milania Blanco still doesn’t understand why she wasn’t allowed into downtown Tucson’s JunXion Bar on Saturday, Feb. 1, while her friends were allowed to go in. However, she’s guessing it’s possibly because she is transgender. The internets exploded a bit over the weekend with comments on the bar’s Facebook review section, as well as…
9/11 Conspiracy Theorists Hijacks Mic During Super Bowl Press Confrence
It’s hard to believe, but there was a lot of action off the field after the Super Bowl ended. A 9/11 conspiracy theorist some how made it through security and interrupted Seattle Seahawk’s MVP Malcom Smith’s post game interview to tell the viewers of ESPN2 that the 9/11 terrorist attack was an inside job by…
History of the Day: February 3rd
On February 3rd, 1967 Jimi Hendrix recorded his second hit single Purple Haze. The left-handed guitarist performed at the Woodstock concert and is known for his stage antics like lighting his guitars on fire. Hendrix is also known for playing the guitar backwards and upside down. “When the power of love overcomes the love of…
Prune Your Roses for Early Spring Blooms and Desert Heat Rose Health
The Potted Desert Enjoy Roses in Your Desert Garden You will want to finish pruning your roses by early-February (preferably this week in the Palm Springs desert) so that they can rest for a couple weeks before our early spring tells them to start growing! Follow these steps for a healthy spring bloom! The same…
Watch Bruno Mars’ Super Bowl Halftime Show
Bruno Mars and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers performed during the 48th Super Bowl Half Time show on Sunday. A good, nameless children’s choir opened with Travie McCoy’s Billionaire (featuring Mars) before Mars’ drum solo that lead to his 2010 hit Locked Out of Heaven. It was great to see the Chili Peppers come out…
Victoria Steele’s Very Good Day
Photo courtesy of azleg.gov Victoria Steele Full disclosure: I’m an LD-9 resident, so I follow its political goings-on attentively and am likely to post about them regularly. Even for non-resident political junkies, though, LD-9 makes for fascinating viewing because it’s a rare swing district. Reps. Victoria Steele (D) and Ethan Orr (R) have a good…
Ralph Stanley: Legend and Legacy at The Fox
C. Elliott Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys at the Fox Tucson Theatre Jan. 29 Ralph Stanley is one of the last great wisdom keepers of a vanishing culture. His music reflects traditions that descended from the Scottish, Irish and Welsh immigrants who settled into Appalachia and the Ozarks as European settlers began to…
AZ Legislature: Highlights From Week 3
Dan Desrochers of Arizona Sonora News Service rounds up Week 3 of the legislative session: This week at the Capitol… Rules, Rules, Rules… Monday marked the first meeting of both the House and Senate Rules Committees. The House handled six bills and the Senate handled 18. The Senate committee passed controversial SB 1062 despite unanimous…
Philip Seymour Hoffman Found Dead in NYC Apartment (Sad, Sad Update)
Actor Philip Seymour Hoffman was found dead today in his NYC apartment. Here’s a sad update. According to the New York Times, Hoffman most likely died from a drug overdose and a syringe in his arm: The actor Philip Seymour Hoffman was found dead in his New York apartment on Sunday morning of an apparent…
God Determines Super Bowl Winner (Go Bruno Mars)
I’ve never been to a Super Bowl party before tonight. I don’t really care who wins or loses. I’m mostly interested in getting together with some people, eating some food and catching the half-time show in the hope of a wardrobe malfunction. (It’s doubtful Bruno Mars or the Red Hot Chili Peppers will have any…
Punxsutawney Phil: “Keep Those Sweaters On, Tucsonans”
In reporting our little weather dip, the local daily declared: “Tucson’s plunging temperatures might require a light sweater.” So with our sweaters on this weekend to keep those shivers at bay, we at Weekly World Central want to inform you that Punxsutawney Phil declared today that we’ll have six more weeks of winter. No early…
AZ Illustrated Politics: Immigration Reform, Election Law Shenanigans, Congressional Match-Ups and More
On last night’s AZ Illustrated Politics: Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce President Lea Marquez Peterson, attorney Jeff Rogers and Arizona Capitol Times reporter Hank Stephenson talked with me about the GOP’s latest immigration-reform overture; untangled the strange repeal of election laws that were just passed last year (in order to head off a vote of…
Save Old Main Campaign Continues
The $13.5 million campaign for the Save Old Main fund to support the renovation project continues. The UA employee site, Lo Que Pasa, just released this video along with this campaign/renovation update: Before it sprawled across 387 acres, the UA was housed in just one building: Old Main. While the University has grown in size…
6 Things to Do in Tucson This Weekend
Here’s what I think you should do this weekend. There’s two awesome concerts going on simultaneously tonight. Photo courtesy of The Rock. Cash Lansky and Marley B, this week’s cover stars, are home after a month long tour through the US of A. You can catch the rising stars tonight at The Rock, 36 N.…
So Long (Again), Tucson Citizen
Gannett Publishing, which clears more than $6 million annually as part of its partnership with Lee Enterprises and the Arizona Daily Star, decided today that its salary overhead — one full-time employee — was too much of a burden to its bottom line. It announced today that it has shut down the community blog site…
“Russian Men so Manly Every Day’s a Pussy Riot”
I’m all for satire and Sochi-shaming, and even re-posting those bare-chested horse-riding Putin photos as often as possible. But this new video making the rounds on the internets is satire magic. I foresee a special Winter Olympic opening held at the Loft with a sing-along. A girl can dream. Oh, the creators happen to have…
Loving Our Libraries: Stop HB 2379
All those hipster lists about best cities and all the cool restaurants and shopping areas—well, yada, yada. They’ve missed pointing out what know in Tucson, our libraries rule and we have some amazing librarians that seem to love dishing out those books and community in Tucson, too. You know who you are, and yep, we…
How Do You Fix CPS?
A community forum on the state of Arizona child care on Thursday night was met with an outpouring of concerns from Tucson residents, who urged lawmakers to fix access to resources under the state’s Child Protective Services umbrella. Residents filled the ballroom at the Tucson Jewish Community Center, leaving few open seats and not enough…
Grijalva: GOP Immigration Document “Emphasizes the Same Failed Crackdown Efforts That Have Torn Families Apart and Brought Us No Closer To a Solution”
Congressman Raul Grijalva responds to the statement of immigration principles that House Republicans are now hammering out: Like many of my colleagues, I’m encouraged to see forward progress on immigration reform, but this document raises more questions than it answers and I wouldn’t be representing my constituents effectively if I didn’t say so. The entire…
Parisi to Launch Power Talk on KEVT
KEVT AM 1210 has dabbled with a number of Spanish language formats since it turned on the transmitter in 1985. That changed today (Friday, Jan. 31). Talk show host Jim Parisi, who over the summer told the Tucson Weekly he was pursuing efforts to operate a station, has made good on that promise. Parisi is…
Market on The Move and Farmers’ Market Locations for Feb. 1
Photo courtesy of shutterstock.com Start February fresh and buy locally produced food. Here’s all the Farmers Markets and Market locations for Feb. 1: Loft Cinema Farmers’ Market3233 E. Speedway BoulevardSaturdays, 8am-Noon520-795-7777loftcinema.com Plaza Palomino Saturday Market2960 N. Swan RoadSaturdays, 9am-1pm Rincon Valley Farmers’ Market12500 E. Old Spanish TrailSaturdays, 9am-2pm520-591-2276, rvfm.org St. Philip’s Farmers’ Market4280 N. Campbell…
Is This The Biggest Reason Republicans Don’t Want An Anti-Voter Suppression Referendum?
Republicans want to make sure pesky voters don’t get in the way of their plans to cut down on the number of pesky voters. That’s the long term reason they’re voting to overturn HB 2305, the voter suppression law they passed last year, and why they’re patting LD-9 Republican Ethan Orr on the back for…
Helmet Cam Captures Heroic Skydiving Rescue
Warning: Don’t watch this video if you want to go skydiving but you’re afraid to make the jump. The Telegraph posted a video of a skydiver free falling to his death after colliding with another parachute jumper 12,500ft in the air. James Lee, 25 was taking part in a jump in Wiltshire when just seconds…
State Pol to Arizona: You Oughta Be in Pictures (Once More)
PHOENIX — Sen. Carlyle Begay (D-7) stood up at the Senate Committee on Commerce, Energy and Military this week and defended his bill, SB 1098. He listed 10 reasons why Arizona needs a state film office. The reasons must have been persuasive because after he spoke, the committee unanimously passed the bill. That’s just the…
The Loft Is Bringing You All of the Wes Anderson Films
In what will be wonderful news for those who spend a lot of time thinking about fonts and/or collecting vintage jackets made out of earthily colored tweed, the Loft Cinema has announced a Wes Anderson retrospective, conveniently timed nearish the release of his latest film, The Grand Budapest Hotel. Here’s the schedule: Bottle Rocket: March…
AZ Republican Legislators Vote To Suppress Public Vote On Voter Suppression
In a stunning but not unexpected move, Arizona Republicans created a cynical end run around Arizona voters. And the top stunner, also not entirely unexpected, is that LD-9 Republican Ethan Orr is the one who allowed it to happen. Here’s the short version — you can read the long version in the Republic and elsewhere.…
House Republicans Reveal Immigration Principles
Talking Points Memo is among the news outlets that has obtained a draft of the immigration principles that House Republicans have been promising for a few weeks. Most of it is pretty much what you’d expect, but the key portion has always been what the GOP would do about a path to citizenship for undocumented…
State Lawmakers Advance Repeal of Election-Overhaul Law
Dan Desrochers of the Arizona-Sonora News Service delivers an update from this morning’s House Judiciary Committee meeting, where a bill to repeal last year’s election overhaul passed on a party line vote. (We’ve got more details about the bill in this week’s print edition.) Things got heated in the House Judiciary Committee today. The committee…
Three Sonorans Compares Justin Bieber’s Crime Spree to Trayvon Martin’s Killing
For the longest time, I’ve looked at the things said by Three Sonorans scribe D.A. Morales with confusion and, often, amusement — after all, one can only read so many varieties of “white people are the worst” so many times before it gets old. I stopped keeping track of him some time after he decided…
Talking Comics Gives ‘Invaders’ 10,000 Fireballs
Photo courtesy of Cynthia Gerriets Bobby and Cynthia reviewed Marvel Now! Invaders #1. Great balls of fire! Talking Comics’ Cynthia and Bobby reviewed the hottest comic on the stands: Marvel Now! Invaders. Human Torch(James Hammond), Bucky(Winter Soldier), Captain America, and Namor team-up to stop the Kree empire from making an army or Norse gods. You…
“Anita: Speaking Truth to Power,” in Theaters March 21
“I have nothing to gain here. This has been disruptive of my life, and I’ve taken a number of personal risks. … I have not gained anything except knowing that I came forward and did what I felt that I had an obligation to do. That was to tell the truth,” Anita Hill, October 1991…
‘Full House’ Reunion on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
This one is for the 90s generation (cool) that grew up watching Full House after school everyday. Jimmy Fallon is leaving the Late Show to host NBC’s The Tonight Show soon, so it seems like he will be going out on several nostalgic bits. Last night Fallon reunited the Full House men to come cheer…
MLK at ASU, 1964
Incredible story in today’s column by EJ Montini, ‘Lost’ tape of MLK at ASU in 1964 haunts us in 2014. Mary Scanlon, a graphic designer, found a trove of reel-to-reel tapes in a Goodwill, recordings of a radio show by Lincoln Ragsdale, who was one of the Tuskegee airmen, and the only known tape of…
You Go, Girl!
What do you envision as a very young girl’s dream for the future? Becoming a cowgirl? A nurse? Perhaps a princess? One girl, former Tucsonan and writer Kelly Lewis, wasn’t all that young when she developed her dream—OK, she was in her 20s—but she did have a very unique one: She dreamed of founding a…
Pedersen on Sports
This Sunday I’m going to a Super Bowl party.” That statement is one of the most common phrases in this country at this time of year, but for most of you uttering it, there’s not much excitement in your voice. While the Super Bowl is annually the most-watched television event in America, most partygoers, if…
Hermanitos: First EP
Hermanitos’ debut release is utterly devoid of pretension. If First EP’s oversaturated and fuzzy sound initially suggests filth like the Rolling Stones at their raunchiest, then you would be overthinking it. If the record seems like an amalgam of anything at all, then you would be overanalyzing it. This quartet’s music is so intuitive and…
Ask a Mexican
Dear Mexican: I am a butt-white Irish guy, happily and stoked to be married to a beautiful Chicana. Her familia is from a gorgeous rancho deep in the corazón of Zacatecas, and I’ve been wanting to experience all of the ranchero lifestyle I keep hearing about from my acquired familia mexicanos (and from those songs at all of the truly awesome…
Cate Le Bon: Mug Museum
Cate Le Bon first appeared, three albums ago, as an artist whose project seemed limited to reworking Nico’s Chelsea Girl. Like Nico, Le Bon’s vocal presence on recordings is so wispy you keep waiting for it to be carried off by the wind and vanish. It’s a kind of fairytale-princess posturing, ethereal and demure. Also…
Selling Strains
One of the biggest benefits of the medical cannabis world is reliability. You can trust that dispensaries will be there, and you can trust that you’re getting what they say you’re getting. Except when you can’t. As much as they’d like to, dispensary operators can’t always know what they’re selling. I’m sorry, guys. I know…
together PANGEA: Badillac
Los Angeles’ together PANGEA comes amid a stellar wave of young, commanding garage-punk bands, and the William Keegan-led trio straddles the line between ferocity and bubblegum as well as any. Badillac establishes a breakneck pace at the outset, with Keegan screaming over fuzzed-out guitar on “Alive” and “Make Myself True,” which drops a wailing solo between…
Celebrating Jesus
When Tucson guitarist Jesus Acedo died unexpectedly last March, Black Sun Ensemble, the band he had led since the mid-1980s, had completed about two-thirds of a new album, Behind Purple Clouds. The remaining band members, shepherded by producer and multi-instrumentalist Eric Johnson, soldiered on to finish the record. Thanks in large part to a grant…
Characterless Cantina
The people who run Gringo Grill & Cantina had better crank it up a notch if they want customers to return. After our first of two meals there we were left wondering how any business could get everything so wrong (although things were better on our second visit). The general takeaway from our first dining…
Noshing Around
Jax Makes Way for Poppy Brian Metzger of Metzger Family Restaurants announced plans to end the five-year run of his first restaurant, Jax Kitchen and plans to open Poppy Kitchen at The Westin La Paloma Resort and Spa, on Feb. 21. Poppy, named in honor Metzger’s late grandfather, is going in the spot that formally…
Editor’s Note
I’m not entirely sure how this happened, but February will be a busy month for the world of the Weekly. SO MUCH EXCITEMENT, PEOPLE. First up, another installment of our endless anniversary festivities, this time at the illustrious Music Box at 6951 E. 22nd St. on Feb. 12 from 5:30 to 9 p.m. or whenever…
Cakes, Hammers and Basements
Quentin Tarantino called Big Bad Wolves the best film of 2013. While I wouldn’t go that far, I will declare it last year’s best horror film, and a tremendous feat of filmmaking by directors Aharon Keshales and Navot Papushado. It’s the sort of twisted, strangely funny and disturbing film I would expect to see atop…
Soundbites
SURE AS SPRING It’s a weird time of year in Tucson. With locals, students, snowbirds and gem show folks all vying for the same spaces and streets, Tucson is as crowded as it gets all year. And yet, aside from a busy period for local acts releasing new albums (lately, it seems like I’ve been…
Danehy
Y’all may not know this, but we’re smack dab in the middle of National School Choice Week. This, upon further inspection, is akin to Right to Breathe and/or Scratch Your Butt Week, since Americans have always had the right to breathe, scratch their butts and send their kids to whatever school they wanted to. This…
Baltimore Bikes
In inner-city Baltimore, it’s a tradition and rite of passage for African-American men to ride dirt bikes through the streets. It’s illegal, and that’s at least part of the point. The police are forbidden from pursuing the riders because, when there are dozens of bikes going every which direction, it’s simply too dangerous. So the…
Downing
The last eight or so remaining readers of the Arizona Daily Star had an exciting Sunday morning on Jan. 19 with the front-page announcement that, inside, the Star would weigh trade-offs and take a stand on whether the Rosemont copper mine down in the Santa Ritas should go forward. I normally don’t read the Star,…
Season of Song
The entertainment options in Tucson at this time of year are endless, with the gem show, the rodeo, a major golf tournament and professional soccer all drawing large crowds of locals as well as droves of tourists. Another addition to the already crowded calendar made its debut last year, and the Tucson Desert Song Festival…
TQ&A
In 2003, local author Sandra Farris published her novel Can You Hear The Music?, a coming-of-age adventure set in the early 1920s. Nearly 10 years later, she and her son Dennis Farris, a local director and visual effects artist, put together a three-minute cinematic trailer far beyond the scope of your standard “quote over cover…
Police Dispatch
EVICTION ERECTION SAN XAVIER BEAT JAN. 4, 8:30 P.M. A man was accused of peeing in public and masturbating in front a neighbor at their trailer park, according to a Pima County Sheriff’s Department report. A deputy interviewed the subject, who had been accused by the man and woman living next door of urinating on…
Carved in Stone (and Other Stuff)
6 to 10 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 1 The Art Gallery 1122 N. Stone Ave. 628-7950;bicas.org Unlike most annual events, the Tucson Sculpture Festival doesn’t have a permanent home. Each year, a different organization steps forward to host the two-week celebration, putting its own influence on what’s become a collaborative effort. Local nonprofit BICAS (Bicycle Inter-Community…
True TV
Don’t care to watch millionaire meatbags throw a Stewie-shaped sportball around between 500 pricey commercials for several over-analyzed hours on end this weekend? Or is that just The Only TV Column That Matters™? If you’re looking for an alternative to Super Bowl 48 (it’s the 21st century—ditch the damned Roman numerals already), options are limited;…
Media Watch
KXCI EXPANDING STAFF Things seem to be progressing rather well at community radio station KXCI 91.3 FM. With the station making headway on its massive Amplify Tucson fundraising drive, the eclectic FM believes now is the time to focus on further financial gift-giving by adding a full-time director of development whose chief responsibility will be…
Year of the Horse, in Puppet Form
4 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 1, and Sunday, Feb. 2 Puppets Amongus Playhouse 657 W. St. Mary’s Road 444-5538;puppetsamongus.com There will be no shortage of ways to celebrate the Chinese New Year as we welcome in the Year of the Horse this week. But for a truly unique experience, why not involve puppets? Local puppeteer Matt…
The Skinny
DASHING FOR DOLLARS: 2013 HAUL EDITION We’ve gotten our first glimpse of how much money is being stuffed into the bank accounts of our local congressional candidates. The deadline for the year-end reports is Friday, Jan. 31, but some candidates have done so well that they’re eager to share the details. Here’s what we know…
A Little Piece of Park City
7 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 30 The Loft Cinema 3233 E. Speedway Blvd. 795-0844;loftcinema.com The Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, has become this country’s most buzzy and influential cinema event, drawing thousands of movie lovers (not to mention droves of celebrities) to the mountains outside Salt Lake City for 10 days each January to…
An Improv Home to Call Their Own
7:30 and 10 p.m., Friday, Jan. 31, and Saturday, Feb. 1 Unscrewed Theater 3244 E. Speedway Blvd. 861-2986;unscrewedtheater.org The heart of improvisational comedy is the ability to come up with humorous content at the drop of a hat—or swing of an imaginary sword, if that’s the scenario being played out—in a way that transforms wherever…
Now Showing at Home
About Time After a father (Bill Nighy) informs his son (Domhnall Gleeson) that he can time travel, the son of course uses the power to trick a woman (Rachel McAdams) into falling in love with him. And, yeah, enslave the planet, because why not? (Universal) Android Cop A future cop (Michael Jai White) and his…
Ballot Bollocks
A push by Republican lawmakers to repeal a controversial election-law package before voters can decide its fate met its first delay last week. Rep. Eddie Farnsworth (R-Gilbert) pulled the bill from consideration by the House Judiciary Committee after a crowd of critics and TV news cameras poured into a hearing room last Thursday, Jan 23.…
Dirty Little Secrets
It takes just a few minutes after the lights go up on Anne Sheffield’s beautifully designed set for Arizona Theatre Company’s Other Desert Cities that you begin to think, haven’t I seen this before? In Jon Robin Baitz’s play we are introduced to a dysfunctional family gathered on Christmas Eve, where it is hinted (and…
Live
The Rock’s management had a great idea for this show: Neglecting the big stage, lights, and sound system of the main area, the bands played in the tiny side room, resulting in an intimate atmosphere not unlike a house party. I only caught the last song of openers Casket Birth, whose wall shaking heaviness left…
Dealing With Doomsday
Why would a gay marine biologist—a virgin, in fact—put a personals ad on Craigslist asking for a woman willing to engage in “intensely significant coupling”? We’ll get to that, but first let me tell you about the cynical young woman who shows up for this doozy of a blind date. Her name is Jo (Dani…
A Better Life
From the outside, a warehouse in south Nogales, Sonora, looks like just another factory among a dozen others in this industrial complex. But inside are rows of chairs, and in the middle of one row sits Cindy Guadalupe Garcia, wearing a shiny red jacket—and a beaming smile for everyone who catches her eye. A pair…
Tucson Makes Gawker’s ‘Map of Hip America’
Photo courtesy of shutterstock.com Williamsburg is a neighborhood in the borough of Brooklyn, bordering Greenpoint, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Bushwick, and the East River. We have been saying this for years, but now it’s on Gawker so it must be true. Gawker conducted a survey with its readers to find the world’s hippest, richest, creative, youngest, poorest and…
Bored Yet With Playing Outdoors? Here’s a Thought
Look for a blistering 81-degree-high tomorrow, then a cold front will set us back all the way to highs in the low 70s through the weekend. Having probably trekked every hike you can imagine, and gone fishing, camping, birdwatching, picnicking and rock-climbing all over Southern Arizona already so far this winter, you might wish for…
